The summer heat has officially reached Colorado. It’s that time of year when it’s just too darn hot to bake or make hot comfort food. I don’t even want to think about turning on the oven!
But we don’t always have time to make this yummy ice cream.
So what do we do instead? We make popsicles!
After a day of sitting outside in the heat watching the boys play baseball games, there is nothing else I look forward to more than chomping on a popsicle. I love fruity popsicles, creamy popsicles, and especially the fudgy ones…
And my kids really love them too!
However, if the popsicles you and your family are eating are a store-bought variety, chances are they contain added sugar (often in the form of high fructose corn syrup) and a host of other preservatives and ingredients you probably didn’t realize were in a fruity popsicle!
Take this example. It’s one of the better options out there, and it still has more than 4-5 ingredients. I’m so happy to see that it doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup as the sweetener 🙂
Make your own!
If you make your own popsicles (it’s really easy and fast to do), you get to control how many and exactly which ingredients go into them. In fact, depending on how ripe your fruit is, many fruity popsicles often don’t need added sweetener! But rest assured that if you do want them a little sweeter, you can always add some honey or cane sugar.
You can buy popsicle molds at many stores and online. They aren’t expensive. I used to use homemade molds (Dixie cups with popsicle sticks). While they were nice and cheap, I found them to be more labor-intensive and annoying.
Then I found these popsicle molds at Target and tried them. It was love on the first try! These molds have a fill line (so that I don’t fill too high and they spill over as they expand when freezing)! They also have a built-in drip catcher with the popsicle stick attached so that I don’t have to remember to insert popsicle sticks just before the popsicles freeze.
Popsicles Molds, Ozera Set ...Shop on Amazon ZOKU Space Ice Pop Molds, 6...Shop on Amazon
Our family eats so many popsicles during the summer that I couldn’t keep up with the demand when I only had one set of 6 molds, so then I found a similar set to this one by Zoku to add to my collection. When I needed to expand again, I found this set by Koji. The Koji set has become my favorite because I love the shape of the popsicles, and the stand for the molds to sit in takes the least amount of space in my freezer while being one of the sturdiest. It’s awesome!
Every year we play around with different flavors of popsicles to changes things up. Here are three of our current flavors:
Peach Yogurt Popsicles
These are a little more on the tart side, as popsicles go.
That’s intentional! If you want them to be sweeter, simply add another tablespoon or two of honey. You can taste them before you pour into the molds to see if it’s sweet enough.
With only three ingredients, these popsicles are creamy, fruity and healthy!
Strawberry Delight Popsicles
If you love strawberries, these are for you! They are a great way to use some of this season’s fresh strawberries before they go bad. Honestly, though, I prefer to use frozen berries when I make popsicles because they are already frozen so the popsicles start off cold before freezing.
These strawberry popsicles are full of strawberry flavor and plenty sweet (you might not even need honey at all). They don’t last one night in my house.
Fudgy Pops
I have to admit that these are my favorites. I love chocolate, and these fudgy popsicles are so chocolaty, sweet and creamy. If you are like me and taste test things before deciding whether they are done, be warned
that these will taste too sweet until they freeze. Once they freeze, however, they are perfect. My gramma always told me that when using sugar you want it to taste slightly too sweet before cooking and baking. These popsicles are a perfect example for that advice.
They are slightly more labor intensive because you have to heat the ingredients on the stove, but they are totally worth the extra 5 min of work! My kids are lucky to get any of these before I eat them all.
Need another way to cool down in the heat?
Try our recipe for homemade strawberry ice cream! It’s healthier and tastes better than anything you will buy in the store!
Comment below…what other flavors of popsicles would you like recipes for?
More Popular Recipes:
Slow Cooker Peach Crisp
Quick Weeknight Meal: Vietnamese-inspired Veggie Noodle Bowl
Poppyseed Pasta Salad
Delicious and Healthy Zucchini Muffins the whole family will love!
Servings | Prep Time |
6 popsicles | 5 min |
Cook Time | Passive Time |
5 min (for fudgy pops) | 4 hours |
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These three flavors of popsicles are sure to cool you down while satisfying your sweet tooth this summer!
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- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 16 oz frozen peaches
- 2-4 tbsp honey
- 1/4 cup water or milk
- 1 1/2 cups cold water
- 2 cups frozen strawberries
- 2-4 tbsp honey
- 1 2/3 cups milk milk with higher fat content will yield creamier pops
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup sugar
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until combined. For smooth and creamy popsicles, blend until smooth. For popsicles with more chunks, pulse blender until mixture reaches your desired texture.
- Pour mixture into popsicle molds and place in freezer.
- Freeze for 4-5 hours, until frozen. Enjoy!
- Combine all ingredients into blender and blend until mixture reaches your desired texture.
- Pour mixture into popsicle molds and place in freezer.
- Freeze for 4-5 hours, until frozen. Enjoy!
- Place all ingredients into a small sauce pan and heat over medium high heat, stirring often.
- Once ingredient mixture is hot (but not boiling), remove from heat and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
- Once cooled to around room temperature, pour into popsicle molds and place in freezer.
- Freeze for about 5 hours, until frozen. Enjoy!
Dorothy Boucher says
Thanks for sharing these recipes , I don’t know if i’ll make them now but will be on my list to do so and try,
@tisonlyme143
Heather says
Hey Dorothy! I completely understand! Keep them in mind for when the weather warms up đŸ™‚
Debbie P says
These sound really good and are fairly simple to make. Thanks for the recipes.
Heather says
You’re welcome Debbie! I am all about making it easy!
Linda Manns Linneman says
Homemade popsicles are so much healthier. With this hot weather these would be so refreshing. Thank you so much for sharing
2pots2cook says
Happy to find you and thank you for kid friendly category ! Will be back đŸ™‚
Heather says
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for the visit! I was excited to visit your page too – such interesting and yummy recipes!
Janice says
These look good! Especially the fudgy pop! My only problem with making popsicles is the sticky clean up after eating them! And when they drip to your hands. ?
Heather says
The fudgy pop is my favorite đŸ˜‰ I totally understand the sticky clean up, but honestly that’s why I love those molds. All of them, but especially the green ones, catch the drips. That makes messy hands and arms (and clothes) much less of a issue, if a problem at all…one of my kids is an especially messy eater in general, and he isn’t messy at all using these molds. Their faces are a whole different story (but that happens with any popsicle!)!
Victoria @DazzleWhileFrazzled says
Thanks for these recipes. We hit triple digits this week so I pulled out the molds and have been making popsicles all week. I can barely keep them in the freezer! Visiting from Creativity Unleashed party.
Heather says
Thanks for visiting us, Victoria! I completely understand not being able to keep them in stock – when it gets super hot, there is nothing better or more refreshing than a cold popsicle!